Bioshock : What if 2
by mortimer012
Summary: What if Booker had help? what if there were other ways for him to go? other 'doors' for Elizabeth to open for him? warning, certain content is directly taken from Bioshock : What if (first book), interest lost, leaving in progress in case returning in future
1. New guy

"_Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt."_

A man, sitting in a row boat on the ocean, during a horrid storm, listening to two others talking away, realized that he was nearing his destination when the woman in front of him gave him a box.

On the box there was a name, 'Booker DeWitt.', when he opened it he saw that there was a gun, a paper with scribbling on it and a few others, one of them told him that he was to collect a girl and bring her to New York.

"Simple enough." He mumbled to himself as he made sure the gun was loaded.  
The pair in front was still talking but he didn't really listen until they neared an old ruined boat house near a lighthouse.

There was a set of wooden stairs for him, he got out after a few minutes, when he was up the pair rowed away, he called out asking if he was supposed to meet someone here, they only said they hope so.

He didn't like it, the storm was severe and he was effectively stranded on the small island, he quickly inspected the area, his job as a private inspector had fined his eyes as he noticed some very subtle and very bad signs.

The boat in the boathouse was a wreck, smashed to pieces, already a very bad sign in itself, one that even a common street urchin could see but the thing that grabbed his attention was the signs of decay on the boat, it was wrecked for a long time.

"Okay Booker, they wouldn't leave you here to die, keep looking."

The man shook his head and walked to the lighthouse, he wasn't surprised that the bridge connecting it to the boathouse was also smashed.

When he reached the door he saw a note on the door

"Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt DeWitt."

He shook his head and knocked three times, soon realizing that the door was unlocked for him, he stepped inside cautiously.

"Hello?" he called out, seeing a basin at the entrance he walked slowly, an old habit came back and he checked the gun again to see if it was loaded.

Ignoring the basin he walked slowly up the stairs, gun at the ready.

The first stop he made was nothing impressive, in the simplicity of the act, it was merely a place to sleep, read; live a boring life.

He carried on still with the gun ready.

Lightning cracked outside a few times and gnawed at his already worked up nerves.  
when he reached the next level he saw that there was a man, with a bag over his head and he was tortured, brutally, the still blood stained weapons were lying on a dish not far from him.

"Oh no."

He took a moment of silence for the dead man in the chair he was bound to, when he was over Booked carried on heading higher, seeing on the wall a message.

"Give us a show, Don't disappoint."

"Bastards."

A slight laughter came from the dark before saying that it agreed, it was a man, his voice commanding but felt dangerous.

"show yourself!"

Booker was surprised when a man did come from the dark, he was rather well built but in the sense that he didn't give up mobility for strength, he was soft on the eyes at first but when Booker looked closer from where he stood he could see that the stranger's eyes were slightly different, they were like a cat's in a way.

"Did you do this?"

"Who me? No, look Booker I was sent here to wait for you, he was already dead when I got here, come on, we got a job to do."

The man was about to walk away but when he was pointed at with a gun he stopped at frowned before rolling his eyes.

"Name Now, Friend."

"Kain, you can put away the gun Booker, look at the box that you got, there will be a paper there saying that you can trust me."

Booker tossed the box to Kain and told him to get it, but he did indeed.

"See?"

"Okay, I'll trust you for now, but I got my eye on you."

Kain laughed at the statement before walking further up.


	2. Trust needed

Booker didn't trust Kain, not any bit, there was something about him, it just, didn't feel right, like he was hiding something very dark.

"You done analyzing me yet?" asked the man as he walked to the very top and outside, into the rain.

"What?" asked Booker as he tried to dodge the question.

"Oh come on, I can see clearly that your cutting me up, what is he doing? Can I trust him? Is he going to stab me in the back the moment I let my guard down? What is it that he is hiding? Why are his eyes different?"

Booker couldn't believe it, he was read like a kid, and that after he put extra care into not letting anything slip through, his instincts took over and he pointed his gun at Kain.

"Put it away son, you don't want to get hurt, you need to be in top condition for your job."

Despite Kain's warning he didn't take his gun off of him, Booker moved slowly past Kain, careful not to allow the man to get any openings for him to use.

Booker watched him but nothing in the world could prepare him for what Kain did, he snapped his fingers as he sprinted to him, it was like the wind slammed against Kain as he collided into Booker, when he was right at the man he snatched the gun from him and held his arm behind him pushing up.

"I did warn you didn't I, Now look, I need you in your best condition, and if you give me a reason to then I will have to snap your arm, and that goes against what I need, so tell me, do you want to know how many bones I can break or not?"

The silence answered him and Kain let go of booker but still pointed his gun at the man.  
"Look I can't do this if you're constantly watching me for any kind of trouble, trust me, after this job you'll never see me again."  
Booker got up slowly, he was hurt a little but mainly his pride, Kain tossed the gun in the air in front of him slightly before grabbing the barrel itself and offering it to him.

"Deal?"

Booker saw no other choice, he needed help as well and Kain was as good as he was going to get.  
"Deal, but I don't want any surprises."

Kain laughed at him before going through the box again.

"Ah so that's the sequence, come on, I've been fiddling with this thing for a few hours before you arrived."  
the pair walked to the door of the lighthouse's bright light, there was three bells, each had a symbol on them, one was a scroll, one a key and one a sword.

Kain rang the bells a specific number of times, each time he did a small light glowed under the symbol's  
when Kain was done a few moments of nothing passed but without warning the skies turned red as a loud blaring noise came from the heavens.

"What in the world?" asked Booker as he heard the noise repeat a few times and a new one came from behind them, from inside the lighthouse.

When it was done another set of blaring and red light came from above, after that the three bells moved down and the door opened as four chairs rose up on a metal disk.

"I guess they want us to sit in their fancy chairs." Taunted Booker, Kain was very uneasy at this but he sat down regardless.

"I hate this part."

Several metal plates rose up and bolted down around them, a voice came to them like a radio or a prerecorded voice.  
Booker listened intently but restraints suddenly snapped around his arms and legs, locking him in place.  
"Don't struggle, you'll only hurt yourself, these things are capable of holding down a man easily ten times stronger than you, just relax and breath deep okay."  
Booker didn't like where this was going but the metal disk they were on suddenly tilted to the sides, Booker's gun fell out, but they saw massive rocket engines.

"OH NO!" the metal floor rose back up and slammed tight against the metal plates, when it did a countdown started, he immediately started to protest but Kain only closed his eyes and breathed in deep.

The entire construct shot up into the air and the mechanical voice told them how high they were.  
"5000 Feet, 10000 feet, 15000 feet."  
They shot up past the horrid storm clouds and Booker was awe struck at the beauty he saw through the glass hatch in front of him.

It was a city in the clouds, so marvelously made that it looked like the home of angels.

"Please land, Please land, Please land." Begged Kain quietly.

As if his wish was heard the 'rocket ship' slammed down hard onto another large metal plate, when it did it started to spiral down slowly, calmly.

Booker saw many strange writings and things that he didn't understand, religious stuff.

When the ship had stopped the metal plates detached and slid down into the ground, the restraints unlocked and they were quickly out of the chairs.

"I hate those things." Said Kain as he walked to the water on the tiles and put his hands in it.

"Where are we? Asked Booker as he looked around, it looked like some sort of chapel.  
"some kind of church, I'm not much for the religious thing, I guess you could say that the way I lived sort of didn't allow it."  
"alright, we aren't really in the clouds are we?"  
The man nodded before taking his less shaky hands out of the water and started to walk off.  
"come on, we need to get out of here, keep your questions to yourself, you do not want to found out, trust me on that."

They walked quietly through the building, it did indeed look like some kind of a church and when they reached the church there was a preacher there, delivering his word.  
They tried to quietly reach him and Kain greeted him as father witting.  
"ah brother Kain, I see that you still long for the feel of the ground."  
"Yes father, I try but the ground is where I belong, I have returned to Columbia to help a friend of mine that wants to be freed from the Sodom below."  
Booker walked to him and Kain thanked Witting for his time but when he tried to walk through to the city he was stopped.  
"Kain we cannot allow your friend to enter our glorious city without being baptized."  
Booker rolled his eyes and played along, Witting nearly drowned him however.


	3. Some fun

Booker rose up from the water and gasped for air.  
"easy now, take a moment to breath."  
"That priest needs to learn the difference between baptizing a man and drowning him."  
Kain laughed at the statement before telling him that they needed to keep moving.  
They walked patiently through the garden-like area till they reached the exit, when they did Booker eyed the ground that started to rise up, Kain however wasn't at all comfortable.

"we need to find a landmark, I don't like flying blind."  
Booker's statement brought forth more laughter from Kain who relaxed a little as the bridge rose up and they could walk further into the city.

"well the only landmark that you'll find here would be monument island, that's where they keep they keep the lamb, come on, I'll show you."

Booker followed Kain, they had to stop a few times though, bridges were down to allow some kind of festival to continue, the former wasn't really impressed but the latter started to inspect them and the other people quietly, Booker nearly missed it with Kain's strange eyes but when the man squinted to see a small mark on one of the woman on the other side of a lowered bridge, she was young, a little younger than Kain himself but there was a certain feel about her, it mimicked Kain in a sense of secrecy.

"Who is she? Well Booker that is a very close friend of mine, her name is Amy, she's, well she's different than the others here."  
the investigator wasn't even going to ask how Kain knew what he was thinking but merely asked him how she was different.  
"That my friend is privileged information, I'm sorry but I can't give it to you, she is with me though so you don't need to worry."

When the bridge rose after the commotion had passed by Kain walked casually to Amy, not trying to arouse suspicion Booker walked with him.  
"Ah Kain, it's good to see you again, who is your friend?"  
"Booker DeWitt, Ma'am."  
he was real gentleman like and Amy smiled before looking to Kain and kissing him.  
Booker felt like an idiot, and the pair laughed at him but he saw that there was something else, Kain was moving something around in his mouth, trying to move it behind his teeth.

"Marvelous day wouldn't you say mister DeWitt?"  
Kain moved his hand over his mouth, his companion quickly found out was happening.  
"Yes ma'am, so what is happening on this warm sunny day?"  
"Ah well today is the raffle, what do you think all this commotion is?"  
"Ah yes the raffle, I'm sorry it must've slipped my mind as I looked at the marvelous city around me."  
Kain yawned and slammed his jaws down hard before saying that he needed to go.  
"Aw? So soon? Oh well, take care."  
they kissed again before Amy walked away like nothing happened.

"What was that?" asked Booker but Kain ushered him to not mention it, till they are out of sight at least.  
"Come on, it's time to cause a little stir, we are going to the raffle but I first want to show you two things."

Kain led Booker to a clear view of monument island, it was in the easiest sense a massive metal angel in the distance, the second thing that he was shown however was far more alarming.

A warning with five different pictures, one was a horrified claw-like hand with the letters AD printed on, the same letters on Booker's own right hand, another a picture of a eye, but it looked exactly like Kain's own eyes, the other three were odd pictures but Booker didn't bother to look at them.

"What is this?"  
Kain laughed slightly before stretching slightly.  
"It's a warning of the 'false shepherd' and his evil associates, he-he it's actually kind of funny to be honest, come on, it won't look good if we are here for too long."

They continued their walking to the raffle but were stopped by a locked gate and a machine that refused to unlock it for them.  
Booker turned his head in frustration but quickly looked again, Amy was standing there casually humming to herself, with a basket hanging against her lightly by a strap.  
"Wait weren't you-"  
a tap on his shoulder silenced him quickly.  
"I'm sorry it must just be me, the sun must be getting to me, free samples huh?"  
Amy smiled passively as the man took one of the bottles out and drank it.

His eyes betrayed him as he saw Amy make a heart and blow a kiss to him, wherever she moved there was a greenish mist left behind, when she blew her kiss however it all started to turn back to normal.

"Wow what was that?"  
Amy smiled and there was no signs that she had done anything but Kain told him that it was a vigor, the sign next to the woman called it possession.  
"Try it on the machine back there."  
"how?"

The pair laughed at his question and Kain led him to the machine.

"Feel the power in your body, feel the surge of what you want and 'throw' your hand at what you want to hit with it, your body will do the rest."

He did and a ghostly apparition of a woman surged forward, hitting the machine and by some miracle it was fooled, allowing them to pass.

"Nice trick huh? Well be glad that you can get vigor's and not plasmids, those really have bite to them, anyway, come on, we got to cause some trouble."

They barely took a few steps before a boy ran to them and gave DeWitt a telegram.  
The message on it made little sense to him but Kain let loose a evil laugh.  
"Wonderful, come on, I know where to go."

They walked calmly and casually to some kind of event.  
When they were right at it a woman stopped Booker, some random woman with a basket full of baseballs, marked with numbers, she convinced him to take a ball.

"What you get? Seventy-seven?"  
"ya how did you know?"  
"Call it a hunch, and here's another, you're about to be called up to claim the prize of first throw."  
Kain's hunch was right and silently he predicted that Booker was going to throw the announcer, yet again his prediction was correct, well sort of, the mark on Booker's hand was spotted and he was grabbed by policemen.

"Time for some fun." Mocked Kain as he popped his knuckles and waited


	4. trouble

A two men in front of Booker spelled doom for him, the one brought forth a strange arm clamp with spinning hooks, he was about to tear off Booker's face with it but he was ahead of them, he tossed the baseball he had into the air to grab the other man's attention, as he looked up booker used that same had to force the man's face strait into the spinning hooks, peeling his face open, layer after layer, Booker didn't waste any time as he kicked the other man away and picked up the strange machine, the name was on the side, 'SKY HOOK'.

Others ran to him to try and kill him but Kain grabbed the closest one to him and slammed him straight into the ground, crushing the man's throat before picking up a sky hook clamped to his arm.

"Booker, Catch!"

Kain tossed the second sky hook at him and picked up the gun lying on the ground instead.  
all chaos had broken out as they forced their way through the men and woman that tried to stop them, Kain's sight was dead on almost every time, no bullet was wasted, he even had Booker worried as a group of them charged them but he didn't fire, until they were almost under the chandelier and he fired, they ran straight into the trap.

"too easy, come on."

They ran into a few more of the 'peace keepers' and a few sentry guns but they weren't slowed down too long.

Some of the peace keepers retreated and kept saying that they were bringing in the 'fireman', when they reached another gate Kain stopped.  
"What is it?"  
"It's getting a lot hotter now, give me one of those hooks, and here's a gun."

The two switched weapons but Kain clamped the sky hook to his belt.

"Okay, come on."

They opened the gate and stepped inside but what they saw was unnatural.  
a single man was on a wrecked stall and had fire coming out of him, he threw them with it but Kain ran in front of Booker.

He grabbed the fire and spun around to throw it back, Booker saw that it was more of a molten earth then a actual fire but he also saw that Kain's hands weren't being burned.  
When the ball hit the 'fireman' it did blow a flame in his face but it didn't seem to do much harm.

Other 'peace keepers' started to appear and attack the pair but Kain told Booker to take cover as he raised his hands high and breathed deep.

"You want to play with fire? Well then let us see who is the better master? You and your vigor? Or me and my plasmids?  
Kain's hands erupted with flames that gathered together into a massive ball above him, the searing heat threatened to burn those that got too close.

Booker could hardly believe it but his attention was quickly shifted as they were being shot at, he returned fire but too late.

"CATCH THIS!"

Kain threw the massive ball at the enemy, anyone that was caught in it got melted, anyone except the 'fireman' he was caught in the very center and was turned to ash, Kain lifted his hands to the side and directed the blazing sphere away from Columbia.

Kain was breathing heavily, but not from exhaustion, he was trying to keep himself under control, the strain was severe and Booker didn't dear to get near him.

Eventually Kain was able to keep himself under lock and key again but when he looked at Booker the man's eyes had changed, from the dark green with a slightly curved pupil, they had turned completely black with red streaks running through them like a cat.

"Sorry about that, come on we need to carry on and reach the tower."

Booker immediately stopped Kain and shouted at him that he was going to answer him or he was going to die.  
"We've been through this before man, you really want me to break your arm don't you?"  
"Look I have been shot up into the air, into a city in the sky, I've been shot at, cursed at and people have been trying to kill me, and to top it off I have had a severe hangover ever since I got here, now you are going to tell me what the hell you are and why we are here to get some girl!"

Kain sighed, this was annoying and time consuming but he did expect it, the man decided to give him what he wanted and without any sugar coating.  
"Look, I am a man just like you, but I've just had some work done, that trick is a plasmid, these guy's use vigor's and they are basically the same thing, my eyes are different because I used a very powerful and very, dangerous plasmid before, it's not something that you can just get rid though, if it was believe me I'd be the first in line to get it all out of me, and the reason we are here to get this girl, I don't know, all that I know is that we need to get her out of here and fast, this place is somehow not good for her."

Booker was hesitant but lowered his gun slowly.  
"Why should I trust you?"  
"Well maybe because I am the only one here helping you through this mess, that and the fact that I just saved your life a few times already."

Booker didn't like it at all but he eventually just said okay.

"Good, come on, I know a quick way through to the tower but first off we need to get you a new vigor, something that will help in battle."

They didn't go far before Kain found a bottle similar to the one that Amy gave to Booker but it was called Devil's kiss.

"Ouch, okay, fair warning, this is going to help a lot but it is going to hurt a little."  
Booker saw no choice and drank the bottle, Kain was true to his word but he underestimated the pain, Booker's hands were burned away, his fingers had their flesh melted off revealing the bone, he screamed in agony but in a few moments the vigor had taken full effect and his hands returned to the way they were before.

"Easy man, take it slow, the pain is excessive and your hands will hurt for a few more minutes so take it slow."

The pair walked at a snail's pace for Booker to fully recover after his ordeal.

"The first combat vigor is the worst, the others will be easier for you to handle feeling better?"  
"Much, thanks."  
"Good, come on, we got to keep moving, I know this nice little place where we can take a breather and be safe."


	5. not alone

True to his word Kain was able to get them to a nice and quiet restaurant called the Blue Ribbon.  
when they got inside Booker saw that there was basically no one there, only the bartender, a man unconscious on the counter and two others, he recognized them, they were the pair in the boat with him.

"Sit, take a moment, and drink." Ordered Kain as he gave Booker a soda before walking to the two.  
They were talking about something and he eventually argued with the woman but he seemed to win the argument since she walked into the kitchen and walked back with a bottle filled with a yellow liquid.

"Drink it Booker."  
He did and felt terrible but he could feel a thin layer of energy form on his skin.

"You're lucky, that usually kills, well we shall be departing now." Said the man casually before they walked out the front door.

"Bartender we need something stronger, he just had his cherry popped a moment ago with Devil's kiss."  
Kain chuckled as the bartender walked to Booker with a blue bottle.  
He really didn't want to but Booker swallowed the liquid and felt stronger for it.  
"Good, remember to look around for anything that can help you recover after using your vigor's.

Amy smiled in front of Booker and he jumped back as he recognized her but she was faster than him as he instinctually tried to attack her, she slapped his arms away like a little boy's and grabbed his throat, she was clearly not going to tolerate any sort of threats from him.

He relaxed and she let go Kain was trying his best to keep a straight face but it wasn't working so well.

"Where are the others?"

Kain's question was quickly answered by Amy as she walked away from the man that she just threatened.  
"They're ready for you guy's that's all that you need to know."  
"Ah, okay, so are you ready?"

She laughed at his question and pulled a sky hook out from under the counter.  
"I was born ready."  
"Funny, you weren't ready when u bit that rocket."  
Kain's remark gave him a sharp look that could scare the dead.  
"Don't try your luck with me, that was different, I would love to see anyone try to hurt me now, I'll see you later when you need me."

Amy mocked Kain and barely hit him with the sky hook as she walked out the back door.

"You feeling up to it man? Or should I get you a teddy bear and a blanket so you can cuddle up to the fire?"

Booker's reply was rather aggressive and sudden as he slammed his head straight into Kain's but somehow didn't feel a thing, the man he hit however fell back slightly.

"OW! Jerk, come on we got a job to do still."

The pair walked out the back after Amy but she was nowhere to be seen.  
"Where'd she go?"  
"Who? Amy? She's already on ahead of us, trust me that it's better this way."

Booker still had his reservations but followed Kain to the edge of the sidewalk, there was no bridge for them to cross but Kain merely put his sky hook back on.

"Great, now what?"  
"You really don't let your mind free do you? Be creative, geez I'm not going to do all your thinking for you."  
he didn't understand Kain's answer but shouted at him to stop as the man ran over the edge and flung his sky hook up.

He was pulled up into the air till the hook clamped onto a large metal rod conveniently placed against the nearby building.  
"THEY'RE MAGNETIZED! COME ON!"

Kain swung back and forth two times, on the third time his hook let go and he was flung to the next nearby rod.

The investigator swallowed hard but ran regardless and he really was dragged across the air and his own Sky hook clamped down onto the rod that Kain was at.

The pair crossed the skies for a moment till they landed back onto safe ground, well Booker did, Kain however was aggressive, he flipped down and rammed his hook into the peace keeper that saw him coming.

"Poor guy, I actually, sort of, kind of, not really, feel a little bit of pity for him."  
"This job just gets worse by the moment."

They laughed slightly before continuing their rampage through the city to get closer to the monument island.

"Hold up, we've got to go through this, thing, these guys really creep me out."

They headed into a large building the design was almost like that of a chapel, as is most of the buildings in Columbia, but this really did look like it was part of some kind of a cult, the only annoying thing was all the crows flying around, that and the smell from the rotten food.

"Ugh, I can't stand being near this place, now I actually have to walk through it, oh well, just another bad day."

"Just another bad day? Then I guess I don't want to know what happens if you have a terrible day."

Kain laughed at the statement which proved unwise cause he alerted a large group of 'zealots' in the hall below them.

"Oops, come on."

Still laughing slightly Kain leaped into the center of the hall and attacked the zealots with his sky hook, they didn't last very long under Booker's gunfire and his unnerving brutality.

When it was over they walked through the one door that was left open that could lead them to a way out.

"Careful, their first is probably nearby, he's not to be taken lightly."  
"Got it."

Booker immediately reloaded his guns before carrying on.


	6. lucky

The pair walked softly through the building they reached a door and heard someone screaming to be let free so he could see his family.

Booker opened it but only in time to see a chained man be devoured by ravens, screaming out in agony.

Kain didn't wait he slammed the door open and they saw the man responsible for the horrifying act, he vanished immediately.

"damn, he got away, watch yourself, that guy isn't going to just let us kill him."

Booker walked to the poor man that died, his body had all but been picked clean already.  
"Damn, he has to pay!"

The man appeared in the distance and started to walk off, Booker charged to him despite Kain's warnings.  
The murderer quickly vanished and appeared behind him, summoning up crows to devour him.  
Booker could barely turn his head in time but his saving grace came quickly.

Kain shot fire through the crows and they quickly dispersed.  
"Back to back!"

They did and were quickly able to hold their ground but they couldn't seem to cause their assailant any real harm.

"I got him." Barked Kain as he tapped Booker lightly on the back.  
the man did indeed reappear in front of him and Kain jumped up, kicking himself off of Booker, the winds threw him straight at the assailants, Kain hit him straight in the chest.

Booker was completely unaffected by Kain's act like it didn't even happen but he quickly turned around and fired his gun at the man.  
the man tried to vanish but the same man that hit him grabbed his leg and shouted that Booker needed to use his vigor.

The man brought forth ravens that started to tear apart Kain but his partner didn't hesitate, he threw the man with a large ball of fire, it exploded right at the guy's face, killing the birds in the attack as well.  
as he screamed out and backed away to kill the fires Kain stood up, his arms were completely on fire as he pulled back to kill the man.

"THAT HURT!"

Kain grabbed him and made a spiraling sphere of flame inside the man's body, ripping his burning body apart from the inside out, before he was dead the man dropped a vigor bottle.

Kain split the sphere and let the flames die out while Booker inspected the ashes, he quickly looked at the bottle and drank it, when he did a crow landed on his hand with flesh in its beak, it just stood there for a moment before flying away.

"Cool, come on the tower shouldn't be far."

They were about to walk on and leave the building but more peace keepers charged through to them.

"Let's show them what we can do shall we?"

Kain's finger twitched and Booker could see how small holes started to form all over his hands as wasps started to crawl out, Booker smiled before bringing forth his new vigor.

The peace keepers attacked them but the pair retaliated with insects and ravens, tearing them apart.

They walked through the dying enemies and Kain said that it was too easy.

"What do you want a medal? These guys didn't stand a chance."  
"Ha-ha careful on that ego, it can bite you in the ass, anyway the tower shouldn't be much further."

They walked back out and saw that they were indeed almost at the tower.  
"You'll enjoy this, come on."  
Booker watched in shock as Kain leaped up and clamped his sky hook to a rail in the air, he quickly joined him but shout at him, asking him if he wasn't afraid.  
"WHAT? ABOUT BEING IN THE AIR? HA COME ON, DON'T TELL ME YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVED MY SCARED OF HEIGHTS ACT, THIS IS FUN!"  
he couldn't believe the man as they slid on the sky lines, eventually however they were forced to release and land on a small platform.

"Damn, find a lever for these boxes." Ordered Kain as he kicked the large shipping boxes blocking their path, it didn't take long for his friend to find one and he pulled it, the boxes moved along the rails and they were quick to join them.

There was only a second stop for them to move the boxes, after that they needed to get to higher ground but while they were trying a loud voice echoed out and told the peace keepers to stand down.  
The men and woman listened immediately but for some obscure reason also join to prayer together.

"this is new."  
"ha-ha yip but I have a bad feeling about this, come on."

The pair walked through the men and woman without any kind of aggression coming from them, in fact they all seemed to be oblivious of them or just flat out ignored them, eventually they got on an elevator and started to head up to the next floor.

A massive screen came to life in front of them and they saw the face of the 'prophet', Kain rolled his eyes as the man started to speak to Booker, he carried on for a while but eventually Kain just had enough and told him to shut up.

"Ah and I see that the false Shepherd has already enlisted the help of the Sodom's finest-"  
"Look pal we just want the girl, give her to us and you won't ever see us again, if you don't we will be forced to rip your 'Eden' apart to find her."

"YOU WILL NOT TAKE MY LAMB AWAY FROM ME!"  
The screen moved away and revealed that it was just a massive airship.  
"I think I hit a nerve, let's see what he's got in store for us shall we?" taunted Kain as he popped his knuckles again.

Booker couldn't help but laugh with him as the elevator reached the top floor and they ran on.  
they tried to run down a hallway but the entire hallway exploded as the airship fired on them.  
"Free ride or what?" asked Booker as he saw that the ship had sky rails around it.  
"Ha-ha, see? now you're starting to embrace it, come on."

They forcibly boarded the airship and it was surprisingly light with resistance, about half a dozen men on it and a nun in the cockpit but when Booker tried to steer it they were in for a surprise.  
The prophet was right outside on another airship, he was mumbling something but the pair didn't really listen, when he was done however the nun behind them said amen and let a torch fall, she was standing in a pool of oil, the woman burned herself and the ship entirely, they had barely enough time to escape onto the sky rail under them, when they did however they realized that it was going to take them straight to monument island.  
"Lucky, hurry up, we shouldn't keep her waiting too long."


	7. monument island

Monument island, home of lamb, or as a very select few know her, Elizabeth.  
when Booker and Kain landed on the ground they could feel that it was different from the rest of Columbia, it felt like it was hiding something important from the world.

"I don't like this, it's too quiet." Whispered Booker as he realized that there was really almost no noise.  
Kain looked around but when he saw something against a wall he relaxed.  
"calm down, Amy's been here, she must've cleared out the goons for us, she'll be around here somewhere."

It didn't bring any comfort to Booker however, he was still very untrusting of Kain and his accomplices.  
"You ready? Or do you want to carry on with your mistrust?"  
"Look I still have my reservations about you and your friends, can't I have that at least? You I'm starting to trust little by little but old habits, you get it."  
"Believe it or not Booker, I know exactly what you mean by that, oh well, look after we get this girl out of this tower I'll tell you everything that you want to know that you don't already."

Booker accepted his terms and continued on inside with him, the area was pretty much deserted and that made it easier for them to just look around without any hassles to slow them down.  
"Geez Amy, you really don't like to leave a mess do you? That time away from rapture really did help you but it didn't dull your skills a bit."

They had walked through some strange rooms with coils and very large 'speakers' that seemed to be sucking in streams of blue light, Kain quickly recognized what they were and said that they needed to carry on.

"What is that stuff."  
"it, it smelled similar to ADAM, it's a miracle drug that can let you rewrite your genetic code, I could be wrong but that liquid definitely looked like energized ADAM."

Booker was about to continue questioning him but stopped when he realized that this was a subject VERY uncomfortable for Kain.

Instead they just got onto a elevator and headed far up.  
"Huh, I wonder where Amy went, I was expecting her to be with us already."  
the doors opened and Kain was greeted by the same woman that he was talking about.  
"It's good to see you, so where is she?"  
"She is inside there, but there is only one way through, come on."

They walked to a view port and Booker pulled the lever, there she was, the same woman that they were looking for, she was twirling around with a picture of the Eifel tower in her hands.

"One way?" asked Kain as he realized that she didn't noticed them.  
"Yes, come on, she should be going to the dining room now, there's something that you need to see."

They followed Amy and saw that Elizabeth ran off, eventually they arrived at another view port and Booker opened it quickly.

There she was, standing at in front of a large picture of the same monument but with a lot more detail in it.  
"She did that herself."  
"impressive."  
"Oh that's nothing, watch this, she should be opening it in a few seconds."

They watched intently but Booker didn't think that anything was about to happen, to his surprise however the girl grabbed the air in front of her and pulled hard like she was trying to tear something open.

A rip formed right in front of her as she pulled, the harder she pulled the easier it became for them to see it, when she threw her hands out it tore open completely, she had ripped a whole in space, on the other side of that hole there was Paris.

They heard a song but quickly saw a car driving to them, the girl panicked and forced the rip close, when she did everything returned to normal, well except that her picture had been left behind in Paris.

She sighed and walked away.  
"um, I have no idea how to comment on that one to be honest with you."  
"Impressive right?"

Booker couldn't believe it, after what had just happened the pair next to him were acting like it was nothing.  
"Come on, we need to carry on, maybe we can still catch her in time."

They ran further but there was no real way to reach her, the only way that they found was by accident, they had reached the very top of the tower and tried to walk past a metal plate held up by chains, the chains couldn't support them and snapped, the trio fell down into the library, Amy landed gently on her feet and Kain quickly got back to his but Booker grabbed onto a bookshelf and tried to help himself up, saying hello to Elizabeth, her reply was to throw him with books, the man lost his grip and fell down on his back, but she ran down and threw him some more, only stopping when he grabbed her.

"That's enough alright."

"Are, are you real?"  
The girl's replay stunned the man as she reached to him and touched his face.  
"He's about as real as you can get."  
She looked at the others after Kain's remark but a loud eagle-like call screamed out after a tune came from a metal statue along with steam.

The girl started to panic and told them that they needed to get out, Booker joined her and Kain started to feel the door that locked them inside.

"Solid, too much, I won't be able to melt through that in time, not even if I used all my power in excess, there has to be another way out, Amy?"

The woman smiled and tossed Kain a key, he unlocked the door and told everyone to run through it but when he started to open it a alarm went off, the eagle-like call turned into a screech and the entire building started to rock back and forth.

They all ran through with Kain at the back and the others up front, but as they ran through the building a large section of it was scraped clean off.

"WHAT IS THAT!"  
Elizabeth was the first to answer the investigator's question, songbird, that was all she could say however.

They reached an elevator quickly and called it but without warning the entire doorway to the elevator blew open an a monster poked its head in, it was like a hulking man had been taken and strapped into a sealed bird suit twice its size but the thing grabbed Booker first and was about to crush him when the elevator came and fell on it, forcing 'songbird' to go down with it, the group quickly ran through into a nearby opening that led through the superstructure of the building, they only had one way to go, up.

They reached the top once more but the winds outside howled more intensely, not to mention songbird easily glided through it all and attacked them.

They fell down and would have died but Booker grabbed Elizabeth before pulling out a skyhook along with the others, they all clamped down a nearby sky rail and tried to ride it to victory but Songbird smashed it, forcing them to fall free yet again.

They all fell but it wasn't long before they fell into the water, certainly not long enough for them to have fallen into the ocean.

The last thing booker saw was songbird diving in after him and gripping him, trying to kill him but the metal bird's weakness was revealed.  
The water seemed to be crushing through the material it was made of, it had to quickly swim out, Booker's vision turned dark after that.


	8. an investment

A watery grave, Kain found it funny as Elizabeth tried to breathe life back into Booker, the man had been under the water too long and it seemed like she was fighting a losing battle until Amy told him to help, the man rolled his eyes before cutting his hand open and allowed some of his blood to drip into the man's mouth, it wasn't long before he gasped for air.

"it's a good thing that we can separate our blood don't you think Amy? Oh well, at least he'll be okay, just give him a moment for the ADAM to work through his system."

The girl was shocked but didn't bother to ask what they were talking about, she could clearly see that it was helping Booker to recover and quickly, he opened his eyes and looked at them.  
Just as he saw them music started to reach them and Elizabeth convinced them to let her go for a moment, Amy trailed after her quickly to make sure she was safe.

It took most of the day for the man to recover fully but when he did he stood up slowly and Kain asked him how he felt.

"Good, surprisingly so, what happened?"  
"Long story, come on, we should go get the girls, it's not safe to be here for too long now that they are hunting us, low profile."  
"got it."

The pair started to look for the girls; they were slightly surprised to see that they were on some kind of a beach reconstruction that had actual sand and water.

When they found the pair they were dancing together along with some other people, Kain stayed back to make sure that there was no one watching them while Booker tried to get the pair's attention.  
"Ladies, hay Ladies."  
He struggled for a few minutes before they noticed, when they did Elizabeth tried to get the man to join them but he said that he doesn't dance.

Amy saw Kain, he noticed something and walked away casually, trying to blend in well.  
she knew that there was something up and grabbed Elizabeth's hand, the girl was surprised but the strong look she was given forced her to stay quiet and follow them.

"Come on, we can get you to Paris, on that airship but only if you stay quiet and follow our lead."  
The girl saw the ship that she was talking about and did as told.

The trio saw that Kain was nowhere to be seen but walked on anyway.  
They entered some kind of shop and Elizabeth saw a picture of the prophet she said quietly that she didn't like the look on his face and the owner heard her but they walked on through trying to make as little commotion as they could.

They had barely made it to the entrance to ticketing when something happened, a woman hugged Elizabeth and started to call her some name that they hadn't heard before but when she was corrected the woman walked away, Booker and Amy immediately felt uneasy and became more cautious, after a few moments Amy told them to stop.

"what is it?"  
"take her and carry on, be careful, I need to attend to something."

Before they could ask what Amy smiled and told them that she was sorry for bothering them and walked away like she didn't know them at all.

"What was that about?"  
Booker was hesitant in his answer and all that he could say was that it didn't matter, they needed to keep moving.

They walked on and reached ticketing, the room was quiet and felt uneasy, the woman from before was there with about four or five others, the ricketier was busy on the telephone and it was clear that he changed his subject as Booker tried to purchase a ticket.

The man was stalling, as he did the others neared Elizabeth, the investigator suddenly clicked on what was happening and pulled out his gun, shooting the man that was on the phone before turning around, they had grabbed Elizabeth and was holding her at gun point.

He raised his hands and let the gun fall from his hands but that only succeeded in the woman from before aiming at him with a gun and firing.

He was too slow to react as the bullet neared him but before it could hit him it was shot away.  
Kain rolled his eyes as he fell down from the roof and straight between the men and Elizabeth, kicking their guns down in the process.

It was quick as the duo started to fire on the others, it was barely a few minutes before they had killed them and looted their bodies for anything that could help them.

Elizabeth nearly had a heart attack, she ran away quickly afraid of what they could do, they would have gone after her but security railings clamped down around them, trapping the duo inside.

It wasn't long before they were greeted by more goons, but they had to open the railings to get to them, their mistake.

As the last one fell down Kain sprinted after the runaway girl with Booker short afterwards, they nearly had her but she was just ahead of them, they would have lost her when she got onto a nearby gondola attached to a sky rail but Amy came out from the compartment on it and grabbed her.

"Hay it's alright, there's no need to run."  
"They killed those men, they're monsters."

The pair ran onboard and Elizabeth tried to run away from them but Amy didn't let her go.  
"What did you expect to happen? Huh? You're an investment, they spent a lot of money to keep you in that tower, the kind that won't just let you go."

Kain frowned at what was said, he knew what it was like to be considered an investment, to be seen as a potential payday, he fought against it with all he had until he was freed, but he yet he wasn't.

Elizabeth quickly came to terms with what was said and gave in, she knew inside that it was true.

"I, I guess that I have to get used to it already."

The two guys walked back out while Amy had a talk with the scared girl inside.


	9. real reason

When the gondola reached its destination the two men stepped off quickly to make sure that there was no one there waiting for them.  
"Looks like they weren't informed of us, we should stay undercover till we have to fight again."  
"got it, Kain what are we going to do about the girl?"

A passing woman told them that they needed to kindle her hope, make sure that she believed she was safe with them and that they were truly going to get them away from Columbia.

"thanks, where is he?"  
Booker could barely believe his companion as he walked to the woman and gave her a light hug, she smiled and returned the hug but let go quickly.  
"he is, ready, don't worry about him, you know that he can take care of himself."  
"I know that all too well, he has to be the most stubborn man that I know." Laughed Kain before telling Booker that he was going to be right back.  
The pair walked away to talk in private.

"How bad is it?"  
"Pretty bad Kain, I, I'm worried that if he doesn't get help soon, his body is barely holding together, the trip here, it did a lot of damage to him, there is something here, I don't know how to say it."  
"It's sort of stealing his power right?"  
The woman looked at him surprised before saying yes.  
"How did you know?"  
"Don't worry, the Lutece's can help him, we both just need to stay calm, I ran into something that you need to go check out for me, it's at Monument Island, it wreaked of ADAM, quickly make sure, if I'm right than its absorbing the largest amount by accident, and we both know that he has the largest amount."  
"If he loses too much ADAM he will start to suffer, I can't allow it."  
"Alright, head to the island, you should be able to find what I'm talking about quickly, try and change the frequency, you just need to block out the ADAM, he'll recover after that."  
"Why don't I just destroy it?"  
"Because, because it was doing something to that girl while she was inside the tower, we can't risk it."  
she nodded and turned around, before walking away she turned to face him, told him to watch his back.  
"There is, something else, I had a run in with it while you were on the surface, neither of us got out without leaving our marks."  
she lifted her shirt slightly and let Kain put his hand in under it, he could feel the deep wounds on her back, it was like some kind of wild animal tried to slash her open.  
"What did this?"  
"I don't know, but it had ADAM, lots of it, I could barely escape with just that, but I made sure that it would remember me, scar face that it is now."  
He laughed and took his hand out, he could definitely smell the ADAM concentrated on that pain in her."  
"Just be careful, okay, we can't afford our bodies to be found here and you know it."  
"You don't have to remind me Kain, I have been through hell before, I have no intention of going back into it."  
"Nor do I, somehow I sort of miss rapture, sure I was a hired killer and cleaner but there was a certain, bliss of being under all that water, away from normal worldly worries, just fighting off splicers and killing rogues before bed, it was good, oh well, it was best when we decided to get out, don't you agree?"  
She gave him a stern deathly look before saying that she nearly died a few times and almost saw her Father kill himself for a second time.  
"Oh right, at least we're out now, take care."  
"you too Kain, it's good to see you again."

Booker was waiting for his compatriot to return along with The girls, when he did Amy asked him how she was.  
"She's good, but I worry about him, the trip here, it took a lot out of him."  
"He's stubborn and strong, you should know that Kain, we don't have to waste time worrying about that monster of a man."  
"I know but still, he's different from before, and there is something that is weakening him here, she's going to go check it out for us, come on we need to get her to Paris."

The pair nodded in understanding of Kain's decision and Elizabeth smiled at the thought.

They walked quietly through the area, trying extra hard not to get any kind of attention from the locals.

Elizabeth was like a child, she had to look at everything and try and enjoy as much as she could but they could understand why she was like this, she had been kept inside that tower all her life, and for the first time she was allowed freedom, she was going to catch up on all that she missed out, regardless of what others said.

"we should get a move on."  
"I know, give her a few more seconds, I'll get her myself after that okay, besides I think that you two have some talking to do." Replied Amy as she joined Elizabeth.

"Alright, now that we have a moment alone we can talk Booker."  
"look, first of all what is the real reason you're here?"  
"Okay I guess that's as good a place as any to start, we're here because we were, persuaded to come, the Lutece's gave us a offer we couldn't refuse."  
"What was that offer?"  
"Freedom, look there was a time where me, Amy, that woman you saw and my other friend were hunted, we broke free from a nightmare but only realized too late that we had only started one much worse, there was barely a few weeks that had passed before we were being hunted by our own demons, the place we broke free from, Rapture, was discovered, and the horror that made it so great was also discovered, the nightmare didn't really change for us, it just grew bigger, the Lutece's found us. Told us that they could make sure we were free from the nightmare if we helped you, that's why we're here."  
"I have never heard of Rapture before, where is it?"  
"I' m not surprised that you haven't heard of it before, it doesn't exist, not yet anyway."  
"what are you trying to say?"  
"The Lutece's brought us back through time, a machine they had built was able to bring us back."  
Booker laughed at him but Kain told him that it was really so.  
"You should remember don't you? They brought you to the lighthouse using their device."  
The man fell silent and could see flashbacks of something when they were over his nose bled lightly.  
"Relax, don't try and force it, the travel does a lot of harm to the mind, you'll be okay, just take your time."  
"Okay, let's say I believe you, what then?"  
"Well you trust me hopefully, we get the girl away from here and where she belongs"

Amy looked back at the men and rolled her eyes before telling Elizabeth that they should go. 


	10. Tears

The small group were trying to reach the airships so that they could leave but when they reached the next gondola to head there they were stuck, the machine operated exclusively on something called shock jockey and the small shards of the vigor had already been used up and exploded.

"Great, now what are we going to do?"  
"Give me a few seconds, I should be able to get it working again."  
Kain reached in but Amy grabbed his hand before he took hold of the thin metal that the shock jockey was to be used on.

"We don't want to attract any unwanted attention just yet, we should rather try and get our hands on some of this, shock jockey, then we can at least still blend in if we use it."  
Kain saw her logic and pulled back his hand back.

"Okay, so where do we get some then?"  
They all looked for any clues without trying to seem too suspicious but in the end it was Elizabeth that found out where to get some.  
"the hall of heroes huh? Well we should go and be quick about it too."

They all walked to the entrance of the hall of heroes but one of the peace keepers saw the mark on Booker's hand and Kain's special eyes, all hell broke loose after that.

"You know, maybe we should cover up your markings, it might just help a little bit."  
Kain tried to keep a straight face at Amy's remark as he looked at Booker, but the man said NO.

They found an elevator that would take them to the hall and there was no one around anymore so they all got inside.

Kain started to snap his fingers to a tune inside his head and Amy followed in suit, Booker just rolled his eyes and Elizabeth was so caught up in the event that she didn't realize she was also snapping her fingers to the tune.

The elevator stopped and Elizabeth was startled but Amy helped calm her down slightly.  
"Come on booker, we should get this rust bucket working again."

The two men opened the circuit box on the wall and pulled off the panel, some of the fuses were blown but luckily there were a couple of spares lying inside.

Booker fixed it and Elizabeth was being bothered by a bee, Amy grabbed it in mid air and asked if it was one of Kain's, he looked at it quickly and told her no.  
"I don't use bees; you should know that, kill it."

Elizabeth told her no, she had a better idea, everyone backed up as she tried to pull apart the air in front of a poster.

She tore open another hole in space and Amy let the bee go, there was a window sill with roses on the other side.

"What is that?"  
"It's a tear, it's sort of like a, a doorway to another world, it's usually something dull but there are other times when it's something beautiful."

She plucked a rose and put it in her hair but before Booker could ask her if she had an airship in there he saw something.

"Get back, Booker give me that plate, NOW!"

The man grabbed it and gave it to him when they all saw it, songbird was there, looking for Elizabeth.  
Elizabeth was trying to close it but she was never going to close it in time.  
"Amy hold this for me dear."

She didn't understand what he was hoping to achieve but knew that Kain had become rather creative and wasn't going to ask her to do something without a good reason.

She held it as he asked while Kain placed his hands on the plate, focusing, she knew what he was going to do when the air itself seemed to move in a spiral.

"Alright Amy, when I let go you need to throw it exactly right so-"  
"I know, I know, just keep it up."  
"Okay, I hope I get this right, THROW!"

Songbird dived straight to them and Amy flung the Plate with all her might.  
"GO AWAY!"

Kain flung his hand forward as well and fired a ball of flame directly behind the plate.  
songbird slammed into the plate head on and was forced back, both by Amy's throw and a massive surge of wind that got caught in its wings from the plate, it barely recovered before Kain's ball for fire slammed it right between the eyes, there was no heat in it, just force.

The distractions gave Elizabeth time to close the tear.

"I don't know what I just saw but it looks like a sure way of getting us killed!"

Amy grabbed Booker by the throat as he shouted on the girl, her companion however went to her to comfort her and compliment her abilities.

"We are all going to die, maybe not now, maybe no here, maybe not even in a few decades but we are going to die, her power can save us, we are more likely to get torn apart from Kain."

He laughed slightly at the comment but popped his knuckles when the elevator stopped.

"Elizabeth, don't mind him, he's just had a very, trying time here, if you think you can help us then do what you do best alright."

Amy let go of the man and relaxed before the doors opened.

There wasn't any people around and they decided to look around a little, Kain found a few lock picks and his eye brow rose as Elizabeth used them on a safe successfully.

"Not bad, that is definitely a good trick."

She thanked the man but they weren't allowed a lot of time to carry on before Booker found some trouble with a few peace keepers .

"is that man even trying to be stealthy?"

She giggled slightly but Kain just stood up and walked outside to deal with the enemy.


	11. EVE (or) Salts

"BOOKER NEXT TIME STAY HIDDEN WHEN YOU DECIDE TO WATCH AT THE GROUP OF BAD GUY'S!"

He said he was sorry before aiming the carbine rifle he grabbed from a dead peace keeper and shooting at the others.

Amy bit her lip before doing the same.

"I can't believe this, don't you know what quiet means Booker, geez, guess I got to show you, again."  
He ran straight into the enemy and started to attack like a wild man, Amy joined him quickly.

"BOOKER! CROWS!"

The man focused and tried to summon the animals but it was harder than before, he just didn't have that feeling anymore.

"It's not working!"  
"Keep trying!"

He did but nothing worked, he just couldn't find that, 'bite' to it that let him summon up the crows last time.

Amy backed out of the fight and headed to Booker, he needed her help but he wouldn't admit it.

"Hay, what's wrong?"  
"I don't know, I just, can't seem to bring them out."

She looked at his hands and his eyes, but saw quickly what was wrong.

"Elizabeth, get some salts, he's exhausted himself."

Kain laughed after hearing that, the girl was quick to get them some, Booker quickly uncorked the bottle and drank the liquid inside, the taste was horrible but he could still stomach it, the strength returned to him and he felt that he could bring about a dark sky of crows.

"Easy now, the effect is overwhelming but don't do anything reckless, don't hesitate to shout when you're out of EVE."

"EVE?"

"Salts, I mean Salts."

Booker ignored her and brought forth a multitude of the dark winged monstrosities, they tore through the peace keepers easily but that only made the situation worse when a automated turret opened fire on them.

"AH YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"  
Booker and the woman ran for cover while Kain headed straight for the turret.

The bullet fire was starting to tear him apart but that didn't stop Kain, he only stopped when he had dived into the turret and ripped it in half.

"Whatever he is using, I need to get me some." Taunted Booker as he saw what had just happened.  
"Trust me Booker, you don't, it's not what it's cracked up to be, sure it has it's good points but it also has some of the bad points."

He sighed before looking to Elizabeth.

"Look I'm sorry about what I said, maybe your tears could be of a help for us after all."  
"Well there has to be one around for me to open, I can't just make them out of thin air."

"Figures, oh well, let's just be sure to stay, QUIET!"

Booker grinded his teeth at Kain but didn't argue.

They all started to look around for anything worth the salvage, Booker found some RPG rounds and saw Amy wince.

"Hay you alright?"  
"Ya, I'm, I'm fine."

She walked away to continue her hunt and Booker asked Kain what was wrong.

"What do you mean?"  
"when she saw this she-"  
He got no further as Kain saw the round and put his hand over it to keep it out of Amy's sight.  
"She had a bad experience with rockets before in Rapture, let's leave it at that alright."

He didn't even want to think at what could have happened but packed the rounds into the bag he took from a peace keeper regardless.

Amy found some more lock picks and Salts, Kain found a way to reach the hall of heroes and Elizabeth found some more ammunition for them.

"Ready?" asked Kain as they all got near him.  
"What for?"  
Kain merely looked to the nearby skyline and smiled, it had answered Booker's question.

"Why did I even ask."

"This is going to be awesome." Laughed Elizabeth as she found herself a skyhook.

"Just hold onto it tightly alright."

"Yes mister DeWitt."

Kain ran to the line first and jumped, his hook attached quickly and he slid off, Amy was soon to follow.

"Alright, you ready?"

She didn't answer him, instead she just ran to the line and followed the two ahead, Booker shook his head slightly before joining the chase.


	12. Reasons

The group reached the outside of the hall of heroes but something was off, it was too quiet.

"Everyone hold up, Amy, take a look."  
She rolled her eyes but closed them before focusing, her body turned ghostly and she merely, walked out of it.

The 'spirit' of the woman walked on ahead while her body remained where it was.

"What was that?"  
Kain looked at Booker before answering him.  
"It's a plasmid called scout, I'm not sure which version she is using though."

Before Booker could ask another question they heard a loud shot echo from near the entrance to the hall itself, Amy opened her eyes shortly afterwards.

"how many?"  
"Five at the entrance, two on the top floors with sniper rifles, three at reinforced positions around the door with heavy machineguns."  
"Hmm, it would be unwise for a direct assault, perhaps we should-"

Booker was interrupted by a series of screams and loud explosions, things being smashed and people being burned.

They ran to the entrance but there was utter carnage everywhere, walls were smashed in with people lying at them unable to move, some of the bodies were burnt to a crisp while others were merely beaten to death, they looked to the entrance and saw one man crawling away from a goliath of a human.

The stranger lifted the man before throwing him through the barred entrance and turning to look to audience.

Booker aimed his gun at the monstrous being but Amy put her hand on the weapon and he lowered it slowly.

Kain watched the stranger but he just walked calmly to the nearby sky rails with a sky hook in hand and heading off.

"was that him Kain?"  
The man looked back to her and smiled before saying yes.

"The big guy seems to have gotten better, that has to mean that Eleanor has successfully blocked us out from that machine at monument island."  
"well at least he is still healthy, I was worried that he would be affected by that machine."  
"He probably was but we should keep going."

Booker could hardly believe all the carnage and devastation that a single man caused, Elizabeth was the one to break him from his awe struck daze so they could advance into the Hall Of Heroes.

When the four stepped inside they were greeted by a large talking statue, saying something about fatherland, their focus was on more pressing matters but the bodies littering the floor caught Amy's attention.

"This isn't good Kain, I've seen this before."  
"We aren't back in rapture, we will be fine, just, keep your guard up, Elizabeth, see if they have anything that could be of use."  
Kain's words seemed to ease the uneasiness that was growing in Amy and Elizabeth seemed more than happy to help, but she still didn't like having to go through a dead man's belongings.  
"Obviously she has never been in that nightmare below." Whispered Kain when he saw her disgust, Amy smiled at the quiet taunt.

They all did their part in looting any ammunition of salts for DeWitt but when Amy got up from under a table she saw a person, in the hall way, blocking her from the others, Kain also saw the man but he motioned for her to get back under the desk as the man headed down the corridor to enter the room she was in.  
Amy hated having to wait but she knew that their best chance of doing this quietly from here on out, was with Kain, seconds felt like hours as the man came closer and closer but her reprieve came when she heard a meaty piercing sound along with stifled screams of pain.

Kain had forced a sharp rod through the man's heart and quietly put him down before whispering to Amy that they were safe.

When the woman got up se noticed that there were two others she didn't see, both were left with a hole in the chest, same as the one that she had to hide from, Booker and Elizabeth came into view, the latter asking if she was alright.

"Yes I'm fine, come on we need to carry on."

At her request they ventured further into the Hall Of Heroes, reaching a large room, Elizabeth read an inscribed panel, saying that Comstock was the commander of the 7th cavalry, almost immediately Booker said that Comstock did not lead the 7th.

Before Kain could tell them to be silent a loud speaker blared to life, a voice told them all that "Corporal DeWitt proved his worth on the field that day." Kain tried telling them not to answer but Booker beat him to it, calling out to Slate.

Kain sighed and shook his head before looking at Amy, the woman only rolled her eyes as Booker and Slate had a talk, mocking him when he said there is going to be trouble.

Both Kain and Amy heard 'Tin Soldier' and started to laugh before saying one name together in unison; "Delta." The others didn't understand what was so funny but soldiers started to pour into the room they were in, not 'peace keepers' like before but real soldiers.

As the last man fell dead Slate's voice came back over the loud speaker, saying Booker was a killer, whether he liked it or not.  
"You can't deny it Booker, he has a point, we are all killers here, aside from little Elizabeth, but at least we are doing it for a good reason." Stated Amy.  
"What reason is there to kill?" asked Elizabeth, Kain decided that he would answer her question.  
"Lots of reasons my dear, if you want bad ones than power, money, greed, bloodlust, if you want good reasons than saving someone, protecting important people, keeping others out of harm's way, we kill to protect not only ourselves but those that matter most to us, and we need to get you as far away from this place as we possibly can."

Elizabeth wasn't sure she believed them but Booker gave her no real time, he tried asking Slate for the Shock Jockey but the man told him clearly that if he wanted the vigor than he would need to give his men a soldiers death.


	13. Anger and Family

"A Soldiers death, what the hell is he thinking, there is no such thing." Mumbled Booker as they all headed into the next room, no one else but Elizabeth said anything, she however asked what Slate meant.  
"he means that he is going to send all his men to die at my hands, for nothing, there is no fame or glory, when you die it's over, end of the line, everyone forgets you."

Amy and Kain knew what he meant, the pair didn't want to think of how many people they had forgotten back in that aquatic hell hole, but Booker froze up when they entered the next room, in the easiest sense, he was down a trip in memory lane.

The man decided to go down a corridor with a sign above that read "The Boxer Rebellion", Slate stated that it was his hand that had set the place to the torch but Comstock told the story differently.

They continued onwards, eventually entering a much larger room with several cutouts, depicting Asian troops perhaps, Elizabeth said that she had read about what happened but when she started explaining, Slate's voice boomed over a loudspeaker.  
the man had barely gotten a few words off before Kain finally had enough of it.  
"WOULD YOU SHUT THE HELL UP? YOU WASTE YOUR SOLDIERS LIVES FOR NOTHING AND YOU STILL DON'T KNOW HOW TO BE QUIET?"

That sudden outburst had silenced Slate and everyone else.  
"Thank you, I swear, you have to be Sofia's relative or something."

Amy laughed at that remark but more soldiers came rushing in, more good men and woman, put to death while they still had much they could live for.

"Do you see young miss? Do you see what Comstock wishes he was? A real soldier-" started Slate's voice before Booker interrupted him, telling him he didn't want to do this, asking Slate to give him what he needed, but the man told them to meet him at the ghost dancers, Booker knew where they needed to go and they all started heading to the other display area, leaving behind the dead troops.

As they walked through the display area, depicting 'The Battle Of Wounded Knee' Slate started to talk to Elizabeth, saying things about Booker and Glory, Tin Soldiers and Silencing.

Booker was unable to hide it when they headed into the large room of the wounded knee display, Elizabeth blurted out that he was there, she could see it in his face, and he didn't try to deny it. 

DeWitt looked to the ground but he felt a strong hand on his shoulder, Kain had a firm yet soft grip, just to remind him he was there.  
"Elizabeth, please, we all have things we don't want to be reminded of, something like this, I know what it feels like Booker, trust me."

The girl nodded her head but Slate started talking to them again, Amy was ahead of him this time and stood with weapons in hands for the soldiers, tearing them apart before they even had a chance, the only soldier that proved to be a challenge was one that had crows at his command, Booker however put a bullet in the man's head with one shot.  
"THAT IS ENOUGH SLATE! I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS! I HAVE NO QUARREL WITH THESE MEN!"  
"Heroes never ask." Was Slate's reply, it sent a chill down Booker's spine.  
"I never claimed to be no hero Slate."  
"Than what are you?-"  
Kain had grown tired of the senseless talk and spotted the very well hidden loudspeaker in the room, firing at it with a carbine until it fell quiet.  
"I am so tired of people like that, damn it, thinking they know us."

The silence was the only few moments that seemed to be calming for Booker and the others but they couldn't waste their time any longer, they needed that Shock Jockey so they decided to head back, hoping to run into Slate.

When they returned to the room that split off to the displays Slate spoke, he kept it short, saying that he had what they needed and telling them where to go.

After a quick brawl with some soldiers they headed down the last corridor, to 'The First Lady Memorial', Elizabeth complimented the woman's eye for fashion, making Amy look up to her picture above the sign.  
"It sure looks like it. Now, let's get this done, this place gives me the creeps."

What lay beyond the doors further unsettled Amy as Elizabeth read the inscriptions, Kain stopped for a moment to look at the statue when he got an idea.  
"Kain, no." stated Amy as she saw the look in his eye, the man sighed and grumbled as they kept going on.

The next room revealed a horrifying truth to the group, Elizabeth was the daughter of Comstock, she tried to deny it as try and Booker tried to make her realize the truth but they both fell silent as the statue of Comstock holding a baby suddenly burst to flames, there was very little damage to the stone but it did grab their attention as intended.

"Listen to me, Both of you. Just because of What you are doesn't make you Who you are, so Elizabeth is Comstock's daughter, that makes no difference, she is her own person, Family is NOT a matter of blood but a matter of who really matters to you, I have seen how a mother ostracized and experimented on her own Daughter to turn her into some kind of a saint while a single man that had no real ties to the little girl showed her more than that Bitch Sofia every did, my point is that, family is earned, not instantly gained because of blood."

Amy walked to Kain slowly, gently reaching to his hand, trying to calm the man down, he had become very worked up over this.

"Alright, maybe you have a point, look let's just get the Vigor and get out of here, do you think you can pick that lock Elizabeth?" asked Booker, he could see blue veins start to show on Kain's hands, he didn't want to think what it could mean, Elizabeth saw the lock he was talking about and said she could try, she was able to pick it with ease.

Kain was still rather annoyed but they all carried on regardless, Elizabeth was quickly enthralled by the next room and Booker decided it would be a good idea to let her have a look around, maybe give Kain some more time as well, but Kain and Amy was ahead of him and about to head into the next room when they stopped by the sound of rushing water, they had heard it before but somehow it sounded louder, clearer, the pair turned and walked to where the water was rushing down a wall, the natural substance had the pair staring at it for a rather long time, both lost in thoughts.

"I don't think I will ever get used to this, not seeing water everywhere outside."  
"I know what you mean Amy, I know what you mean."


	14. Talents here and there

When Kain realized that they were only waiting for him in truth than he sighed and shook his head.  
"Damn, not again, sorry about that, let's go, I'm starting to wonder if this building will ever end."

After walking through one more large room Kain's question was answered as they walked into a much larger courtyard, the group could smell the fresh difference in the air and breathed in deep,, their advance however was halted by a simple metal gate, simple but locked from the other side, Elizabeth slipped through easily but Amy told her to wait as she displayed her own acrobatic skills and got over the gate, the men were too broad however to slip through, they considered trying to get over it but Elizabeth startled them when she reached out and pulled the air apart, revealing a large piece of construction machinery.

"Is that-?"  
"It's a tear, something from another world, I can bring things through remember?" interrupted Elizabeth, Booker however saw the freight hook and reached for his sky hook, both the men used their tools to get over and across the gate safely but the recent activity on the tear Elizabeth opened or perhaps the amount of exposure they had suffered so far to this strange ability revealed rippled in the air to them, she told them they were tears and explained the only other two tears that were nearby, one on the ground was a turret with cover, one further up was freight hooks attached to the buildings in the distance, the pair first decided to get off of their current freight hook and land next to the others.

All chaos broke lose after they landed, soldiers rushed into the courtyard and attacked them relentlessly, good men and women but when Elizabeth opened up the tear on the ground, they started dying off rather quickly.

As the last man fell Slate started to speak to them again but this time they all simply ignored him and headed into another building, Kain was on the verge of cursing already when they were forced to fight some kind of a walking machine firing upon them with what would appear to be a predecessor to the chain gun.

When Kain saw the 'tin man' drop its weapon after being destroyed he picked it up.  
"hmm, seems simple enough, let's go, cause some, havoc."

The way Kain was slowing down as he spoke had the others concerned until they also saw what appeared to be footsteps, they followed them but saw that there was no Shock Jockey left, Slate must have had all that was left, they needed to find slate and they needed to take it from him, one way or another.

On their way back Kain and Amy saw the arcing electricity and stopped them all, Slate must have been behind them and set a trap with Shock Jockey, one they got around with no trouble.

"Must have just been to show us he was here." Said Elizabeth.  
"fool, if he was in rapture, he would have been torn apart, oh well, you win some you lose some, right Amy?"  
The woman said nothing in reply to Kain but when they got outside they heard a whine, two large objects were in the air.

"What is that?"  
"Comstock's ships, he must be coming for Slate." Replied Booker as he answered Elizabeth's question.

Slate started to shout out against Comstock and throwing around what seemed to be shards of some kind, when they hit the walls or ground electricity started to arc around wildly between the spots.

Nothing was going to talk Slate out of his madness, the man was too far gone, they all agreed that there was only one way left, the needed to end Slate's misery, but that also meant, taking on all the soldiers that still remained loyal to the man, so many deaths that were going to weigh heavily on their conscience.

The battle carried on for a while, one, two, three groups attacked them all, the last even had 'Tin Men' in it, but in the end they were granted the last chance, Slate himself welcomed them to fight him personally.  
"Booker, I have got something in store for Slate, just give me a few moments and keep him Busy, Elizabeth, you might want to go hide for now, Amy give her some protection"

Booker agreed with whatever plan the pair were brewing and charged up a flight of stairs, grabbing Comstock's attention rather easily and drawing him away while Amy and Elizabeth headed in an opposite direction leaving Kain alone to 'prepare' for whatever he was going to do.

"Alright you bastard, you throw away the lives of your men so easily, let's give you, a real Rapture's death."  
Something deep inside Kain was coming out, he could feel it, the change was to follow quickly.

"SLATE! "

DeWitt was pinned behind a wall as he and his rival fired on each other, neither of them could go anywhere but Booker's ammunition ran out and his own source of salts were too far away to reach.

"This is what it has come down to Booker, accept it, one of us is going to die a soldiers death."  
"It doesn't have to end this way Slate, I don't want to kill you." Replied DeWitt but Slate only laughed at him.

"Come now DeWitt, we both know what needs to be done, whether you want to or not."

Booker didn't know what to do, he was in one of the worst situations he had ever been but he saw some kind of a shadow move past him at an alarming rate, mere seconds passed before gut wrenching cries of agony filled the air.

The man didn't know what to do, he stayed where he was until he heard Kain's voice call him, from Slate's position, still unsure about what happened Booker gripped the trusty skyhook he had, if something was going to happen than at least he could try to defend himself.

When Booker reached Kain he saw Slate on the ground, against a wall, his body was bloodied and torn but still he was alive.

"So, this is what you call, a soldier's death?" asked Slate, Kain kneeled down and grabbed the man's chin, Kain's own hands were bloody.  
"No, this is a rapture death, YOU sent those men to their deaths this day, Die in a geyser of your own blood fool."

Slate tried laughing but coughed up blood instead, he spurted out three lowly words before pointing to a bag in the distance.  
"You, earned, it."

Booker looked inside and took only bottle of shock jockey inside, they chose not to drink it there, they would first get the girls but as they walked back to find them Kain snapped his finger, a flame erupted to life on it and he burned Slate's body.

"Better not for anyone to find him, he may not have died like a soldier but he deserved a burial like a king."  
Booker said nothing, their focus instead was on finding the others.


	15. Sick

Booker DeWitt and his companion Kain were able to find the girls with little problem, considering how they both headed to the courtyard when they heard the fighting stop and the cries of pain, and in time too, Kain started to shake and hyperventilate, Amy saw it and ran to him, asking him what he was thinking, Kain's reply was simple, he wasn't, the man started shivering and sweating rather quickly, Amy quickly took a intact jacket off of a dead soldier and covered Kain with it, Elizabeth wanted to know what happened but Amy beat Booker to speaking.

"look it will take too long to explain, but if we don't get him to the airship NOW so I can treat him properly he could die."

Booker didn't know what was wrong but he knew the look of a coming death, it was written all over Kain in so many different ways it would have made DeWitt's head start spinning, he immediately popped open the bottle of Shock Jockey and drank the vigor, when he did shards of some sort started to grow on his hands and energy arced out between them, he quickly recovered and they sprinted out of the Hall Of Heroes as fast as they possible could, Amy holding Kain in her arms, the pair ran into a sealed doorway but Booker used his new vigor on a nearby power station and they were clear to the sky lines after killing all opposition that stood in their way,

Luck shined upon the group as they saw a gondola waiting for them, everyone got inside and they headed down, Kain was lying against the wall on the ground, Amy immediately took off the jacket but she panicked when he stopped hyperventilating and simply, relaxed.

When the man's body fell limp Amy cut open Kain's belly and reached in, when Elizabeth saw what she was doing she screamed at Amy, asking if she was crazy.

"Listen, you have no idea what we have inside our bodies, if I don't do this, he is dead!"  
Elizabeth was about to intervene but Booker stopped her.  
"look, he died a few moments ago already by our standards, maybe they know something we don't."

Elizabeth was about to protest but when a squishy noise came from inside Kain and Amy pulled her hand out the man started to breathe again, but he was unconscious.  
"What, did you do?"  
"i made one of his King Slugs bring him back, You don't want to know."

The way that Amy said it discouraged Elizabeth from further questioning, the results were clear, even if they were sketchy, to say the least, Amy told them that she still needed to treat him properly on the airship, Kain was still in grave danger.

it was a harsh battle that awaited them when they got off the gondola, but one that Amy was more than ready for, her animalist brutality disturbed even Booker as she ended the lives of her enemies easily, one of the peace keepers got a lucky shot off in her shoulder, when she felt that pain Amy leaped high backwards in the air, twisting and turning as she did before landing on the man's shoulders, as he fell back she snapped his neck and jumped back, slamming hard against another before killing him and landing gently on her feet.

Booker lifted Kain up in his arms when Amy ordered him to, she was terrifying at this moment and he didn't want to upset her, the group sprinted straight to the elevator, through whatever stood in their way, when they were in Booker handed Kain back to Amy, the woman asked in a rushed voice of any of them had a syringe for her, Elizabeth handed her an empty one, where she found it only she knew but Amy thanked her before snatching it away and forcing it into her, when she pulled out however the blood was somehow, thinner than usual blood and it had a, alluring sensation to it.  
"This should keep him stable for now, I can't distill ADAM from my veins as good as you Kain but I'll be damned if I let you down now."

She pushed the syringe past the wound on Kain's stomach, injecting it into his stomach linings, allowing the creatures inside him to feed on it, when she was sure that the syringe was empty she pulled it out of Kain, the man seemed to be better now that they injected him, Booker and Amy were caught up in a discussion of the girls, tears that she could open while Amy tried to distill more of the mysterious liquid from her own blood, she heard Amy explaining her tears as doorways, she didn't really focus on what the girl was saying.

When the door opened up both the detective and the girl they were meant to rescue were deep in a discussion while their partner carried Kain, no one was around to interrupt them luckily and they got to the gondola leading to the airship with ease.

"This is too easy." Mumbled Amy as Booker summoned the gondola, almost as if answering a silent summons, the voice of the prophet roared out across Columbia.  
Elizabeth challenged the man, stating clearly to him that they were leaving and that there was nothing he could do to stop them, but her bluff was called, two 'gunships' carrying peace keepers headed to them.

Before the two ships could come close enough for the peace keepers to attack a single massive bolt of electricity forced its way through one of them, the ship started to lose altitude, drooping far below the clouds and likely to crash into the ocean waters below, a second powerful bolt forced its way through the other, forcing it to follow the fate of its companion.

Booker and everyone else turned around, they saw the same man that helped them to break into the Hall Of Heroes.

"Delta, Thank you for saving us, Kain, he is sick, he turned." Spouted Amy, when she had ushered those words the man walked over to her and took Kain from her arms, nodding his head before sprinting away from them.  
"Who, is that?"

Amy shook her head before answering.  
"A friend, his name is Delta, and right now, he is Kain's best chance."  
as they boarded the gondola Booker asked what happened to Kain.

"It's, hard to explain."  
"Try."  
"Our bodies, mine, Kain's, Delta's and a woman named Eleanor, all of our bodies is flooded with a drug called ADAM and all of us besides Delta have slugs in us that create more of it, back in rapture, Delta's body, it, changed, he is able to create the stuff naturally, but for all of us there is one thing, when our bodies are out of ADAM, we start to break down, Kain has the ability to turn into something, deadly, but the longer he waits between transformations, the more ADAM he uses, he must have used up all of his ADAM to change, we warned him against doing something rash like that before we even came to Columbia."

Amy said nothing further before she headed to the other compartment, she wanted to be alone.

Shortly after Amy left Elizabeth revealed that Booker was calling out to a woman named Anna while he was unconscious on the beach but the moment he heard that named he stated coldly that he does not want to talk about it, she apologized and instead asked where he was from, he answered her honestly with "New York."

The pair started to discuss his work and she tried complimenting him but he broke her down in the attempt, stating that he had several debts, that he was only doing a job to pay off his debts, the man said nothing further, even to Amy when they arrived at next platform.


	16. Chase

The cold calculated attack that was being delivered from Amy and Booker as they essentially marched their way through the building was unsettling to Elizabeth, the passion they showed before was mostly empty now, but the results were the same, almost the same, all the peace keeper that tried to stop them died and they continued on to the elevator, when they were inside however Elizabeth tried to break the tension and talk with Booker again.

"So, it looks like they call you the false Shepard."  
"And you the lamb, so what?"  
"Let's not call each other that."  
"Suits me."

He was as blocked off as ever, even Amy felt slightly uneasy standing next to him.  
"How do you think they knew you were coming?"  
"Either they've got a prophet on their side…" taunted Booker as he allowed himself a slight smile, before stating a more likely scenario, who hired him must have warned Columbia.  
"If they did, than they put Kain's life in danger, they had best hope I don't get my hands on them."

The elevator arrived at the platform, a walkway straight to The First Lady airship, when they were inside they had to admit, it was cozy, Amy sighed before sitting down on a couch, Elizabeth took a look around and Booker headed to the controls, trying to figure out how the thing worked, he was surprised at the simplicity of the controls, when he started to pull the levers to set the coordinates the ship moved and Elizabeth was ecstatic that they were headed to Paris, until she saw the coordinates herself, they were headed to New York, not Paris.

The man tried to convince Elizabeth that everything was going to be alright but she slammed him with a large tool across the face, knocking him senseless, when Amy saw her do that she shook her head and got up, Elizabeth was about to hit her too but she grabbed the tool and yanked it out of her hands before changing the coordinates for Paris.

Booker slipped in and out of consciousness, he saw that they were surrounded and that the two abandoned him to whoever was going to board the ship.

Vox Populi, took the ship, when Booker finally came too he had a good chat with a woman named Daisy Fitzroy, he tried to convince her that he wanted nothing to do with the Vox but he was forced into a deal, he wanted the airship than he was going to have to help the Vox, before he could try and protest he was thrown out of the airship

A short drop, that was Booker's saving grace, he only fell far a few feet before slamming into the wood walkway below.

"Great, another grand mess you got yourself into this time DeWitt." Ushered the man to himself as he got up.

A large sign with a man's face on was one of the first things to greet him, "Fink-MFG".  
"I'd better find those two before Elizabeth 'lights them away'."

The detective took extra care with looking for the pair, he saw the peace-keepers around and knew that if he caused a ruckus that he would be in another life or death fight, but this time he had the advantage, for the first time, they didn't know who he was.

Traversing the terrain was relatively easy, considering no one was shooting him, Booker was even able to sneak through what looked like a wreck, there were bottles of shock jockey everywhere and even some of the strange crystal like constructs that could be used as traps were laced on the ground, DeWitt didn't want to seem too suspicious so he walked by casually and was able to reach the entranceway to the delivery center, but the man's senses were tingling, something must have caused that 'wreck' earlier to happen, he headed to the doors and started to open them, they were pretty tough to move but he got them open, eventually.

While Booker struggled he heard someone talking and when he got the door open far enough he saw Elizabeth and Amy getting pushed to the floor, with someone threatening them for being stowaways.

Both Elizabeth and Amy saw Booker, Elizabeth gasped and ran while Amy jumped up from her position and pushed the man that threatened her over the edge.

"What took you so long Booker?" asked Amy as she and the man both chased Elizabeth.  
"What do you care?" replied the man as they both slid under a large box container on a rail before getting back up.  
"Look Booker, unlike Kain, I don't give a rat's ass about you! ALL I care about in this place is Kain, Delta and Eleanor, if we want to live in peace, we need that girl, alive!"  
Elizabeth was a decent distance ahead of them but the pair was catching up fast, she wasn't used to constant running, cowering, fighting and the like, DeWitt and Amy were.

When she realized that Elizabeth turned around and opened a tear, party balloons started to fill the air in front of the chasers.

The balloons went away after a while when the tear closed but the duo were subjected to another tear, a marching band, he tried telling them to move but Amy flung her hand to the ground below the band, a powerful gust of wind fired up and moved them away by force.

When it seemed that they had her Elizabeth opened up another tear to block them, a moving train kept the only way to her pretty well sealed off, till Amy really snapped, the woman leaped up and twisted her body through the air, jumping over the entire tear, Booker at least only had to wait a few moments for the tear to close.

Amy was almost at Elizabeth when Booker passed through the closed doors, but the woman opened another tear, this time it was to her misfortune, there was a pair of peace-keepers on the other side that grabbed her, Amy dived through before the tear closed, severe gunfire followed shortly after on the other side of the wall.

"Damn it, there has got to be another way in." stated Booker, luckily he found a nearby door that led out to a walkway, on the far end he saw a man get flung across the air, over the rails, past any hope of safety, headed straight, to big blue below.

Booker thought this was his way to them but when he reached the doorway to the section Elizabeth was in, it was locked up, the fighting was getting more intense.  
"GET AWAY FROM HER!"  
Booker was hardly surprised as he heard Amy still going on, he was however unnerved when he heard what sounded like a thunderstorm on the other side of the wall, that was it, Booker saw a set of a stairs heading to a second floor and a rail nearby, his ticked into that fight.

Booker was barely into the fight before he saw a woman on the sky-line headed to them, he recognized her, she was Kain's friend, Eleanor.

Eleanor leaped off the sky-line and showed the same, if not more Athletic prowess as Amy, she landed gently in the center of the area but what happened after was far from gentle, the woman jumped backwards through the air and landed on a man's shoulder before breaking his neck with her feet and repeating the leap to a different enemy, this one however she leaped over but in midair she wrapped her arm around the man's neck, breaking it as she landed behind him and grabbed his carbine, Amy laughed when she saw her easy dispatch of the enemies.

"so you really have been keeping in shape haven't you?"  
Eleanor said yes before laughing herself, the fight seemed easy, even when a gunship came to them with some more enemies, they reached the room where Elizabeth was basically dragged into, but when they opened the door she opened yet another tear, forming a part of sky-rail so she could escape, Booker was the first to give chase, not even thinking about it as he jumped and clamped his sky-hook on the rail.

The man was able to almost catch the runaway Elizabeth but some kind of, man in metal grabbed him, slammed him into the ground, unfortunately he was tossed through the air, to a distant container before Eleanor or Amy could intervene, the 'tin-man' threw a disk at the container and sliced off one of the ropes holding it up, Booker fell but was saved by Elizabeth, the woman was clearly not happy with him and told him to not follow her, until he told her that he made a deal to get their airship back.

Booker gave her all the details and was almost happy when Amy and Eleanor joined them, the pair was able to escape from their enemy after they both agreed it was built almost like a big daddy and would be more trouble than it was worth but Elizabeth stated that they were all only a means to an end, nothing more.


	17. Surprise surprise surprise

Elizabeth remained infuriated at them all, except for Eleanor, she was the only one that seemed alright in her eyes, the local peace keepers seemed oblivious to their identities and let them pass into the nearby area called Finkton, or close anyway.

The entranceway of Finkton seemed, interesting, to say the least, after they opened the doors they were greeted by a large metallic statue, they all ignored it and walked past but Elizabeth wanted to know who wanted the guns they were supposed to get, Booker held nothing back, he told her all she wanted to know, he couldn't risk her running again like that but when they were about to get through however they were in a little problem, there were no jobs being offered to Finkton was sealed shut.

Elizabeth wondered how they were going to get in and Booker said Illegally but Eleanor and Amy were already ahead of him, looking for the alternative route, one they found rather quickly but it was locked.  
"You know Eleanor, back in rapture, the locks, they were pretty easy." Joked Amy while Elizabeth picked the look on the door so they could get going, Eleanor didn't seem to be to react to Amy though.

When the door was open they all headed inside and saw a service elevator not far, it would take them into Finkton, but the guards downstairs would make a ruckus.  
"I'll handle this, sit tight."  
Eleanor walked down to the guards and ran to one of them in tears, saying that she was attacked from upstairs.  
"She's good." Complimented Booker quietly, Eleanor had the guards completely fooled and they headed to the stairs, but when they turned their backs on her, that's when the beautiful flower showed its thorns, she had singlehandedly annihilated them all.

"What did you expect? Her daddy trained her personally when we escaped from our nightmare."  
"Her daddy?" asked Elizabeth, loud enough to be heard from Eleanor below.  
"My Big Daddy Delta, his isn't just good, he isn't just great, he is the best."

Booker didn't want to think about how good this man had to be, if his daughter was this good, than he'd be scary in itself.

The group went to the elevator but Elizabeth found something in the nearby locker, her mother's journal and with it, a painful truth; her mother didn't want her to be raised in the same roof as she was, her mother had her locked up, Eleanor had an idea of what Elizabeth felt and tried to comfort the woman but without success, she just wanted to be out of the city, and Eleanor knew that feeling off by heart, different city, same story.

They all got inside the elevator and started it, an uneasy silence grew but was quickly interrupted by the voice of Jeremiah Fink, he was complimenting the wonderful and hardworking Bee, Amy chuckled.  
"What? What is it?" asked Booker.  
"No, it's just, Kain would have had some silly remark or some-"  
The nearby phone started ringing, interrupting Amy, Booker was eventually convinced to answer it.

"Uh, Hello?"  
A secretary by the sounds of her asked Booker to wait on hold for Fink, this had the group unsettled already but what really bothered them was the fact that Fink said that they were being watched all this time, that he was their best candidate, their top man and that his associate mister Flambeau will help him with everything that he would need, that was it, Finkton have a little chuckle than put the phone down.

Elizabeth asked what the hell it was that had just happened but Amy and Eleanor let loose their own little giggles, obviously they had an idea of what had just happened but something of much more importance came up into view as the elevator kept going down.

A Massive statue of Fink himself, and from the looks of it, it was gold, a grand ego by far.

As they carried on down they saw, well, in all honesty, well trained workers, from a nearly synchronized wake up on one floor, to a group run on the next and even a clear cut roll call, military style.

"Well, he has ego and knows how to instill discipline, good thing he wasn't in Rapture." Joked Amy as they reached the bottom floor and finally got off, at the far end stood a man in that same butler styled manner, even the way he talked seemed drilled into him.

This man, this, Flambeau told them that mist Fink had prepared supplies for them that they would most likely require from here on, and they were on the table, the man didn't stop them as they cautiously took the supplies.

Elizabeth tried hard to get an answer out of the man as to why Fink was helping them but he told her that any questions regarding mister Fink's motives was to be asked to Fink directly.

"Give it up Elizabeth, he's just another drone stonewalling you."  
Eleanor's response had deflated Elizabeth's attempts easily but when the group was about to leave Eleanor surprised them, telling them that she needed to be leaving now.

"What? Why?" asked Amy in protest.  
"Because I need to help heal Kain, don't worry, I'll be fine." Replied the woman but the way Amy looked away showed that she wasn't sure, Eleanor grabbed her friend and kissed her gently, as to not allow any unintended message to be read.

"I owe Kain my help Amy, it's alright, just keep an eye over those two alright?"

The woman gave in and Eleanor headed back to the elevator to return.

Booker however had that moment repeating in his mind several times before he was able to shake it off.

"What, Just happened?"  
Booker only realized he spoke out loud when Amy said that she was just kissed by her best friend and that they needed to get a move on.


End file.
